Content Warning: The source material for this study guide includes depictions of domestic violence, child abuse, and the death of a child. It also describes instances of parents attempting to kill their children and references death by suicide and racist attitudes.

The novel begins by describing itself as a fairy tale. It begins in 1968 when Brian West, a New York parole officer, meets Lillian Kagwa, a Ugandan American secretary, at the modeling agency where she works. Lillian migrated from Uganda after her cousin was killed by paramilitary agents.

Brian initially comes to visit Lillian’s employer, who is his parolee, but soon starts returning to see Lillian instead. Worried that Brian will eventually uncover his fraudulent business operations, Lillian’s employer fires her. Lillian moves to a new secretarial job but resents Brian for how he’d affected her employment situation. Eight years later, Brian asks Lillian out on a date, and they go to dinner and a movie. Brian indicates his strong desire to become a husband and father. When he suggests that Lillian could be a good mother, she notes that he is being too forward. During the movie, Lillian realizes they have a connection. Soon after, they have sex, and Lillian becomes pregnant with their only son, Apollo, who is born in September 1977.